Google Ceases Cooperation And AI Development With US Army

Alphabet, Google’s mother company, has announced that it has ceased cooperation with the United States Army and the Pentagon, according to the New York Times. Google and the army are currently working on the development of artificial intelligence, but the contract between both parties won’t be renewed.

According to the newspaper, the decision was made public internally to the Google staff during a meeting. The company has reportedly stopped cooperating on an artificial intelligence in order to prevent a revolt amongst the employees. The employees working on the AI program don’t want the technology possibly being used for warfare purposes.

The AI technology that was being developed uses machine learning and is able to interpret video images accurately. This can result in more specific and accurate attacks by drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles. Even though Google has not signed a contract extension with the Pentagon, their current contract is still valid until next year.

This isn’t the first time that Google’s cooperation with the army has been the source of some controversy, as a large number of Google employees have written an open and collaborative letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, asking to stop developing the AI technology for the United States Army, as this didn’t align with Google’s company philosophy.

As a response, the company then announced to create strict rules that prohibit the artificial intelligence from being used in combination with weapons, but Google has apparently now decided to ditch the project altogether in order to keep its employees happy.